Above the Fold: Supply Chain Logistics News (July 19, 2024)

By Adrian Gonzalez

I found myself in an ambulance at mile 58 of last Saturday’s Breakthrough T1D Ride in Burlington, VT.

I was involved in a crash. I was in a pace line and the rider two places ahead of me rubbed tires with the rider in front of him. He lost his balance and fell, causing the rider in front of me to fall. Despite my efforts to get out of the way, I ran over his bike and fell too. Luckily, I was the last domino to fall; the riders behind me were able to stop before running me over.

But that’s not the reason I was in the ambulance. That crash happened earlier in the ride, and fortunately, none of us were seriously hurt.

I was in the ambulance, along with my wife and several other riders, taking shelter from a fast-moving thunder and lightning storm. We were pulled off the road until the storm passed, which took about half an hour. Sitting for 30 minutes is not ideal when you still have 42 more miles to cycle, but if you have to be in an ambulance, there are far worse reasons to be in one.

Overall, the ride was fun, meaningful, and inspirational. In addition to my wife, our three oldest kids also participated, including Hannah who has type 1 diabetes. She is the reason we ride, and we all finished safely with smiles on our faces.

The biggest highlight for me happened the night before the ride. I was presented with The Promise Jersey, which is awarded “to someone who puts others before themselves and has shown unwavering dedication to Breakthrough T1D and the Ride. This jersey recognizes a person who does not have T1D but has made a promise to continue riding and fundraising until there are cures.”

I proudly wore the jersey during the ride, with its large rose on the front in honor of the woman named Rose who inspired it. I will proudly wear The Promise Jersey in future rides until the promise Rose made to her daughter and I made to mine is fulfilled: to keep riding until we find a cure for T1D!

Another highlight: Our Logistics Leaders for T1D Cure Team earned the Top Corporate Team award again, having raised $35,549 so far! A big thank you to our team sponsors TranzAct Technologies and Transporeon, and to our many friends, colleagues, and family members who donated to the cause, for making this possible.

Our team rides on, with several team members participating in other Breakthrough T1D rides in the weeks ahead:

Janet Bucciero (Pitney Bowes) riding at Amelia Island, FL
Gabe Coury (e2open) riding at Coeur d’Alene, ID
Kelly McCauslin (e2open) riding at La Crosse, WI
Joe Tillman (SMC3) riding at Coeur d’Alene, ID

If you are friends or work colleagues with Janet, Gabe, Kelly, or Joe, please visit their pages and help them reach their fundraising goals. Every dollar gets us closer to creating a world without T1D!

I will be doing another ride too (details to come).

Finally, below are some photos from the ride (click on them for full image). I hope they encourage you to ride with us next year! Feel free to contact me to learn more. It truly is a fun and meaningful experience!

Moving on, here is the supply chain and logistics news that caught my attention this week:

I’m out of time this morning, so I’ll share my comments next week.

I’ll just quickly highlight the news dominating the headlines this morning. As reported by Wired:

Banks, airports, TV stations, health care organizations, hotels, and countless other businesses are all facing widespread IT outages, leaving flights grounded and causing widespread disruption, after Windows machines have displayed errors worldwide.

In the early hours of Friday, companies in Australia running Microsoft’s Windows operating system started reporting devices showing Blue Screens of Death (BSODs). Shortly after, reports of disruptions started flooding in from around the world, including from the UK, India, Germany, the Netherlands, and the US: TV station Sky News went offline, and US airlines United, Delta, and American Airlines issued a “global ground stop” on all flights.

The widespread Windows outages have been linked to a software update from cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike. It is believed the issues are not linked to a malicious cyberattack, cybersecurity officials say, but rather stem from a misconfigured/corrupted update that CrowdStrike pushed out to its customers.

While this incident was not caused by a cyberattack, it gives you a taste, nonetheless, of the havoc a widespread cyberattack could cause.

Coincidentally, I wrote about this topic yesterday on Talking Logistics (“The Cybersecurity Problem (And Opportunity) In Supply Chain Management”). While the cybersecurity opportunity might be in disguise for some, the problem is certainly in plain view, a clear and present danger to all.

And with that, have a meaningful weekend!

Song of the Week: “Too Sweet” by Hozier